Sovereignty of States over their natural resources

The sovereignty of States over natural resources within their territory is one of the oldest principles of international law. The principle is generally regarded as implying the right of each territorial State to freely exploit these resources. Yet, the development of environmental law has led to ever greater limitations upon territorial sovereignty. In the first place, a duty of the territorial State not to cause transboundary environmental harm has crystallized in customary law. More recently, the need has emerged to impose constraints upon the territorial sovereignty of States in order to ensure the conservation or sustainable use of natural resources of general interest for the international community. In parallel with the consolidation in treaty law and international practice of these limitations upon State sovereignty, the idea has also emerged that developing States should be compensated for the incremental costs they bear in order to conserve resources of common concern to humankind. A trend seems to develop in international law towards a functionalization of sovereignty, according to which the territorial State can be regarded in some situations as the custodian of resources of essential environmental importance for the international community and future generations.